What do you think of the quality of Japanese subtitles on English movies shown in Japan?

Pretty crappy. All of the curse words, from Damn, to g Da Mo*****er, are all "Kuso!"

I saw a funny kung fu movie. One character had discovered his buddy had tons of Kung Fu dvds, and he referred to him watching Kung Fu Porn as "crouching tiger, hidden sausage,"

But that line, which was a bit amusing, was translated directly into Katakana.

I was amazed to watch a movie on TV. I forget the title. It wasn't very interesting. I was only watching it because I couldn't sleep.

Anyway, there was a golf game. One of the players teed off. As he did, he shouted - as you do - "fore!"

I was highly amused when the Arabic numeral "4" appeared in the Japanese subtitle, just as he said it.

Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy BETTER than dubbed movies/voice over. Now that's annoying!

pizzatime. A root canal surgery without anesthesia is better than Japanese dub. Perhaps even placing one's head in a slow moving grinder is better. I can think of a lot of things I could rather be subjected to than dubbed movies in Japan. The over acting is enough to compel one to leap out of a window.

That said, the subtitles are written for the twitter age. My wife often complains that the subtitles are entirely off base from the English or other languages. She says they are dumbed down so barely literate can follow. Meanwhile even the local industry is expressing public worry over the declining ability of locals to read subtitles. This is a clear sign of Japan's educational decline.

I think they're absolutely horrible.

Especially anything Toda Natsuko touches should be burned.

The quality is very low, especially due to the traditions they have in the industry about the amount of characters that can be displayed at a time and that they have to translate liberally, not literally.

But there are some gems out there. I remember in the movie "Wayne's World", when Wayne asked for the Cream of Sumyounguy, the translation was given as "miso za-men". ha ha

Neither good nor bad. Just different.

No dexpert but have been told they are not great. more puzzling is the quality of (and reason for) the subtitles that are shown on most Japanese "talk shows.".....

The subtitles on Bewitched (now showing on NHK in the mornings) are a bit strange. A woman's name was changed from Naomi to Emma (did Naomi somehow sound too Japanese?). Darren's name comes out more as Darling! Imagine your boss calling you Darling! And Darren complaining that he had to work on 'Saturday' somehow came out as 'Sunday' (OK, I'm guessing it's because people overwork here). But in general, half the subtitles in that show just don't correspond with what the characters are saying.

I have also noticed, that when someone says something about Japan, unless it's a glowing appraisal, it somehow disappears from the subtitles. Uncle Vernon's joke about the Japanese golfer in Harry Potter just became a joke. I remember watching Bridget Jones' Diary in Japan. When the mother said the Japanese were a cruel race, I was waiting for what the subtitles were going to show. Nothing! I think the job of the subtitle writers is to also babysit the audience and to protect them from anything deemed offensive.

Indeed, Pukey2: I remember Dr. Strangelove, and one of the Peter Sellers characters recalled being tortured by the Japanese during WW2. "The problem is, they make such damn good cameras," he added.

The Japanese subtitle? "But the Japanese are different now." LOL

If you view film as an art form and Kubrick as an artist, then these kinds of shenanigans are unacceptable.

Pukey2, his name is Darrin, not Darren.

Pukey2, his name is Darrin, not Darren.

So, shoot me then.

The fact is, whether it's Darrin ダリン or Darren ダレン (or even Daren, Darin, Daryn or Darryn), the pronunciation's the same in English. Neither sounds anything like Darling.

Acetaldehyde..... Did the subtitles show it as Darling or Darleng? Pukey - plenty Japanese girls write Darling as Daring when they write Engrish. So getting closer to Darrin. The subtitles aren't great but are a feature of everyday viewing, even on J TV. Typically big and pink or neon orange and accopanied by a "schwing" sound (or similar).

My answer is..great, subtitles are great even if what is said is not entirely the same sometimes.

"Waaaaaaaaaay better than dubbed/voice over"

I dunno, sometimes the Japanese dubbed voices are pretty funny!

With all the years of English language education in Japan, you would think subtitles won't not be needed.

I think they would be great if they actually matched the movie they were written for.